


Hidden in Plain Sight

by Firekitten



Category: RWBY
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 18:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15734688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekitten/pseuds/Firekitten
Summary: When Tai receives a package in the mail from his old academy, he finds there’s an unexpected gift inside from someone else entirely. [Pre-Volume 2]





	Hidden in Plain Sight

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 1 of Taiqrow week - Theme is "Long Distance"

The door creaked on its hinges and immediately the sound of excited yips and a jangle of tags greeted Tai in the form of thirty pounds of tiny dog. He juggled the package he carried under one arm to lean down, Zwei’s ears flopping about as he gave him a pet. “Hey there pupster. Sorry I’m late. Did you already eat?” When his answer was only a cold nose nuzzling into his palm rather than a mad dash for the kitchen, he took that as a yes.

Tai was never going to figure out how he learned how to use the can opener.

He kicked the door closed with his heel, dropping his mail on the table as he passed. Zwei started sniffing intently at the box. “Sorry bud, it’s not from the girls.” There was a growly huff of disappointment.

Tai chuckled, stretching his arms over his head as he headed for the kitchen to scrounge around for a dinner of his own. The only sound for the next few minutes was of him, clattering around in the kitchen and the breeze in the trees outside, the silence of the rest of the home leaving a solemn weight to the air. Two months, and he still wasn’t quite used to no longer hearing the various noises of the girls running down the stairs or yelling at each other in the living room as they played the newest fighter game or the faint noise of their laughter drifting from the floor above.

He was immensely proud of them both: of his eldest, who had gotten an acceptance letter well before entrance exams, and of his youngest, who had been allowed to skip two years ahead. Though, he had always known ever since he watched Yang throw down Qrow when she was only seven and Ruby build her first model of Crescent Rose at only ten, that both his girls had immeasurable talent and the drive to pursue their dreams. As a father, he could only encourage them to embrace that potential and ambition, aware that one day he was going to see them grow into the extraordinary huntresses they always wanted to be.

Still, it didn’t mean that watching them get on that airship to Beacon wasn’t one of the hardest days of his life.

It was even harder to say those goodbyes alone and return into the near empty home, more still and lonely then it had ever been.

_At least_ , Tai thought as he sat on the couch with his plate of pasta and reached for the remote, _I don’t have to fight for the TV anymore_.

He turned it on, the television already on his favorite channel, and set the remote aside. He balanced his plate in one hand, reaching down to curl his other arm around his dog, hefting him up beside him. They got comfortable, Zwei nestling up against his side while Tai kicked off his shoes and rested his feet on the table. “Oh gods, I remember this one,” He said as the sitcom’s laugh track played after one of Starla’s typical neurotic-induced jokes. “This is the one where Annie and Davy get the male nanny and everyone treats him like he’s gay.”

The corgi gave a slight growl.

“I know, right?” He laughed, twisting his chopsticks around some noodles.

They watched the rest of the episode, infuriating as it was, and the next that played for the power hour, plus one of _All Our Life_. By the time the intro to _Collide_ started playing, the sky outside had turned dark and Tai was starting to feel the drag of exhaustion trying to pull his eyelids down and knew it was time to call it a night. He shut off the TV, getting to his feet. Zwei, who had rolled onto his back to take a nap, awoke and wiggled his paws a bit. Tai rubbed his belly before helping him on the ground floor so he could run out the doggy door. He wandered back into the kitchen to clean up the dishes and by the time he was done, Zwei was back inside, settling onto his doggy bed. It seemed he was going to stay down here tonight.

“Night buddy.” He said, giving his pet a few more affectionate pats, before picking up the package and heading upstairs.

He set the box on his bed and headed into the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth. He reemerged to slip into some comfortable sleep shorts, tousling his hair one more time with the towel before tossing it onto the floor. He sat down on his bed, picking up the package and setting it in his lap. There was no return address, but he knew who it was from. He pulled off the tape, only finding two items inside. The first was a palm-sized black plastic case with no distinguishable marks on it. The other was a note that simply read:

**_I have a feeling you may not be in Vale anymore_ **

Tai rolled his eyes. He had to wonder where his old headmaster’s sense of humor came from. “Very funny, Oz.” He set the scripted letter aside, before pulling out the case next, dropping the cardboard box onto the floor. Popping the top open, he eyed the chip that rested atop cotton padding. There was a picture of a gear etched on its tiny surface. The last time he had seen it had been fourteen years ago. He carefully fished it out, holding it delicately between his fingers. For what it held on it, it was extremely unimpressive looking.

He reached for his nightstand, pulling over his Scroll DEX.

And hesitated.

Did he _really_ want to do this again?

Tai pondered the question, staring at his reflection in the transparent screen. What stared back was a man who was nearly two decades older, age lines starting to show and a paleness to his hair that had once been so vibrant. While he had kept in shape over all these years and had fought the occasional Grimm around the perimeter or when enlisted by Patch’s call-to-duty system to deal with bigger threats, he knew it wouldn’t compare to what he was going to face if he joined Ozpin’s inner circle once more.

_If you didn’t want to, then why did you call at all?_ The thought whispered at the back of his mind, the answer already there.

Somewhere within himself, there was still that young orphan boy in him that grew up wanting to protect society from hurting like he once did. To shelter those wishes for peace and safety, knowing all too well the pain it caused when they went unanswered. So, he’d return to this underground war waging out of sight from the rest of society’s eyes so that next generation didn’t have to.

He’d return, because that’s what a Huntsman does.

The screen lit up as Tai slipped the chip into the device. It read ‘Initializing’, beginning a percentage counter that haltingly climbed in number. Once it finished, it would have all his old data on it as well as any new intel, any of his current objectives and secure, untraceable connections with the rest of the association. Reading over everything could wait until morning. He hooked the phone to the charger and set it on the nightstand, before shutting off the lamp and climbing into bed.

He was just drifting into sleep when a sudden jingle jerked him back. He stared in confusion at the blue-tinted light that brightened the ceiling, before rolling onto his side and pulling his Scroll over to read the banner on the lock screen:

**216 messages from A Dumb Bird**

“What?” He whispered into the night air, sitting up slightly. He pressed in his thumbprint and swiped over the screen, opening up into the messaging app which started him at the most recent entry. It was dated today, two hours ago. It was a short message, only two words:

‘Miss you’

The words themselves made a pleasant buzz hum underneath his skin. The one before it was dated three weeks ago, well after midnight. It was a picture of five puppies in a box.

‘Someone’s selling these droolers for five lien. Think yours needs a friend?’

Tai shook his head, scrolling slowly at first but faster as the dates and messages swam by. A few more weeks. Four months. Ten months. A year. Two years.

He finally got to the first message of the 216 he had been sent, all the way back _seven years ago_ when Qrow had decided the girls were old enough and they were both steady enough for him to quit teaching and work missions for Ozpin again. Overwhelmed by emotion, Tai had to set the Scroll aside, burying his head in his pillow.

_“Listen up!”_ Summer’s ever-sweet lilt was as clear as ever, even in his memory. _“I want all of us to make a promise that on these missions, when we get to places that have reception, all of us will send messages to one another to let us know we’re okay. I don’t care if it’s a text, a video or a picture, just send something.”_

Qrow _knew_ Tai couldn’t get these messages to this phone without the chip. Hell, he even sent messages or called him on their normal Scroll all the time. And yet, all these years and he still…

He took a breath, before pulling the Scroll over again and started to read each and every one. Some barely said much except that he’d made it to town or when he’d be heading back. There were a few pictures; a collection of mini-whiskey shots found in a hotel room or a big dragon statue with a tiny plastic one the man had balanced on its nose just to tease him about ‘size comparison’. There was even a video in which Qrow, slightly tipsy speech filtering through with mirth, pointed the camera at a normal crow and started to talk about how he “found himself after all these years”. A lot of it didn’t make sense, but Tai still chuckled and even watched it a second time.

It wasn’t until he got to the ones that he had received from three years ago and onwards that he noticed a subtle but still apparent shift to the messages – not to mention the quantity. Suddenly it wasn’t just a few shorts words, but full sentences about how Qrow was doing or what he was looking forward to when he got home. Snippets of how much he loved him or how he missed waking up beside him that Tai had to wonder if the other had sent here because he wasn’t feeling secure enough to send them to him for real. Over a dozen pictures now of various things, like a candy shop he thought the girls might like or a lightning bolt during a storm that lit up the whole sky (with a caption ‘you electrify me’ that had Tai nearly rolling with giddy laughter).

The one that hit the hardest was a video, the only other one in all the messages, that had been shot two years ago. The other huntsman must have been at an inn, because he was leaning against a headboard.

“So, hey.” Qrow started, running a hand along his hair. He often did it to look suave, but this time it only made him seem nervous. “I tried to make it somewhere in time but got held up on the field. You know how it is. So, guess I’m fashionably late.” He winked, but the act was quick to drop and he looked away.  “I’m sorry. I wanted to at least call on the right day. I wanted to show you that… I’m here. That even if I’m across the world, I’m always here for you.” He chuckled, offering the camera a half-smile. “Guess I ain’t proving that very well if I’m missing our first anniversary, huh? I’ll try better next time.”

Tai remembered. He’d be lying to say he hadn’t been a little down about it when the day itself passed, but he never held it against Qrow – nor for the next two he also missed. He’d learned, both from being in the profession and exclusively dating those in the same job field, that sometimes the best one could do is just cherish what time you did get together. It was impossible to be a fulltime huntsman and still be able to make every special occasion; and while Tai knew he had a lot of faults, being selfish enough to think he was more important than the people his partner was risking his life to protect was not one of them.

So, when Qrow finally was able to call, it hadn’t mattered to him that it was a few weeks late because the gift of getting to hear his voice was one worth waiting for.

“I just,” The recording continued, the man fully turning back to the camera, “I wanted you to know that, this? You and me? It’s… been amazing. You’re, I mean,” He shook his head, laughing as he ran a hand over his blushing face; he looked unbelievably endearing. “Tai, man, why is this so hard? I’ve known you for years. Yet every time I try to just tell you how much you mean to me, I can’t seem to say anything decent. I’m going to call you soon and what the hell am I gonna say?”

Now _that_ Tai would never forget – because it had been the first time Qrow said “I love you” aloud to him; and it had taken his breath away.

Now he found himself in the same position, as the man he found himself utterly captivated by, smile towards him and say, “I’m just, so happy, you know? Happier than I thought was actually possible. I never thought us being together would make that much of a difference but, it has. It really has.” He rubbed the back of his neck, bashfully adding, “Hopefully I can find a way to tell you that tomorrow.”

The video ended there.

Overwhelmed, Tai scrolled through the rest of the messages until he caught up, staring at the newest one that was now three hours old. He ran his thumb over the two simple words, his heart feeling ready to burst, and hurriedly typed a reply.

‘ _I love you so much_.’

After a minute of no response, he started to go back up to reread again. He was just in the middle of admiring a shot of an old-fashioned air balloon hovering in the sky when his phone pinged and brought him back to the bottom.

‘Tai?’

‘ _Yeah. It’s me._ ’ He replied.

There was another lull, but not as long as the last before he replied, ‘Welcome back, you damn dragon.’ Tai smiled, knowing that’s what Qrow had him listed as in his Scroll. There was another ping.

‘I’ll give you five lien if you delete every message prior to these.’

‘ _No deal unless you’re going to use it to get me a puppy._ ’

‘Between you and Zwei, I can’t handle any more dogs in the house.’

“Oh my god Qrow!” Tai laughed aloud while writing ‘ _You charming jerk_ ’ in return.

‘A charming jerk you love.’

The smile he wore was uncontainable. ‘ _Yeah, I do._ ’

‘This charming jerk loves you too.’

“Yeah.” Tai whispered, deliriously happy as he held his phone close, never wanting to let it go – or, more precisely, the person on the other end. “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> For those wondering, the show Tai is watching is a reference to Friends and an actual episode that aired in later seasons.
> 
> The DEX in Scroll DEX stands for codex, which were oftentimes books filled with parchment paper (which is the same type of paper scrolls are generally made of). It can also stand for Deluxe.
> 
> Lastly, this story is mostly a headcanon, but it’s based off the idea the missions Tai starts taking during the duration of Volume 2 – that causes him to send Zwei to the girls – and again at the beginning of volume 3 are indeed for Ozpin rather than just typical Huntsman missions.


End file.
